What if
by MarenMary93
Summary: Okay, this will prolly make everyone's head hurt. This is pretty much an AU of an AU... (Gib's characters) Cooper's older Charlie killed himself in 2006, what if that didn't happen?
1. What if

**A while back I played around with Gib's OC's and I kinda made this tragic family backstory for one of them, Cooper. Basically I made an older brother for him, just to kill that older brother off. And then I've dropped small hints of who Charlie was all over… And at least a couple of you have been mildly-to-moderately pissed at me for killing Charlie off.**

**So naturally, just to make those few of you even more annoyed with me, I decided to do a little random collection of drabbles, one-shots, and such, based on "what if…" **

**What if… What if Charlie didn't die**?

Sept. 12th 2006

"Good morning Charlie…" Coop grinned as Charlie staggered into their parents kitchen, some time after breakfast.

Charlie offered up a half-smirk and sat down, reaching for what he considered 'his' cup. It looked like it cost precious energy. Coop stretched for the thermos on the counter, ready to hand it to Charlie.

"You look more tired today…" Coop noted and tilted his head as he studied Charlie.

"Had a rough night." Charlie coughed a bit.

"Yeah?"

"Is mom and dad home?"

"Nah… Mom's at Julie's. Dad is working today."

"Okay."

Cooper looked at Charlie who suddenly seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"I need help."

Cooper said nothing.

"But I'm not ready for mom and dad to know."

"-Okay." Coop nodded.

"And work can not know about this."

Coop furrowed his brows, "Are you alright?"

"No."

Coop had rarely seen his brother with tears in his eyes. He remembered 3 times off the top of his head. One had been after a rough tour when Coop had been a kid and Coop came to visit him at the hospital when he came back home. Coop didn't really know much about what had happened on the tour, but he had since learned that child soldiers had been a part of it. Another had been physical pain. Charlie had trapped his hand in a Humvee door the day after he had (unknowingly to the others) broken two metacarpals in a fistfight. Tears had been present. And then there was the time he had learned that one of his classmates had gotten in a car wreck and had suffered brain damage and probably never would be able to walk or talk again.

Their family weren't criers. They were typical tough-guys, didn't show a lot of troubled feelings. And they were typical Norwegians as well, they didn't want to bother people unnecessarily, not with practical issues and definitely not with emotional issues.

"Yesterday marked five years since… you know…" Coop nodded and Charlie's breath caught before he was ready for whatever came next, "-I planned on killing myself yesterday."

Coop felt like the ground was ripped out from under him. He was left gaping wordlessly.

"I almost did it."

"But… You've seemed happy…" Coop felt his chest tighten, "for the first time in ages, you've… You seemed like you didn't have a care in the world here at home."

Charlie shook his head, "It was easier. -Knowing that the finish line was approaching."

Coop swallowed and blinked. "Oh fuck… I'm such a bad friend and brother… -I'm so glad you didn't. That should've been the first words out of my mouth."

Charlie chuckled, "No, you're a good brother."

"Is it the work?"

"What?"

"Is it the work that almost drove you to this?"

"No." Charlie shook his head, "No, I felt better while overseas."

Coop nodded, "You seemed more at ease ass well."

Charlie nodded, "It's pretty fucked up that I relax more there than here."

Coop nodded, his eyes focused on something way outside the room they were in.

"That's why the army can't know about this." Charlie sighed, "If they catch on to it, I'm out."

"Yeah, but you need help."

"I think we already covered that."

Coop nodded, "What can I do?"

"I don't know."

Coop nodded, "Let's try figuring it out together then."

Charlie nodded.

"-Have you tried the hotlines?"

"Do I look like a guy who knows how those hotlines work?" Charlie chuckled grimly, "Nah… Chalk that up to me being afraid of losing my job."

"I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to let your employer know, even if it's Uncle Sam…"

Charlie chuckled, "yeah?"

"Pretty damn sure…" Coop nodded, "And if you still have problems trusting it, then you can call from a hidden number and use an alias. Or call from a pay-phone for that matter…"

"Okay, maybe it's not that hard…"

Coop shook his head, "But I'm grateful that you trust me enough to talk to me about this. And whenever you need a set of ears to listen to you, I'll be there. I can't promise professional level replies or anything, but I'd much rather sit and listen to you for days on end than not."

The corner of Charlie's lips turned upward.

"And the last thing I want to do is sit and listen to your eulogy. Especially if it's not due to old age…"

"Oh, I'm getting kinda old you know…"

"Bull… Given how much older people get nowadays compared to twenty years ago, I'm pretty sure we'll get to see our mid 90s without too much hassle." Coop shrugged, "I might be 15 years short on life experience compared to you, but I've still got a set of things I'm 99% sure of."

Charlie said nothing.

"One. Life sucks some times. -I know that's prolly the last thing a pro would tell you right now, but it does. No need in hiding it… Two, if you give it a chance, life will turn out pretty good eventually. Three, one day you're going to be an awesome father, an awesome uncle and eventually an awesome as hell grandpa. You just have to make sure to be around for it. And what do I base number three on? I base it on statement number four; you are the best brother I can think of. And everyone we know are grateful for having you as a friend."

The tears in Charlie's eyes were back, and he had to swallow and look upward in an attempt to keep them contained. Then he let out a nervous little laugh, "you know what?"

"I'm not a licensed mind-reader, so no…"

"Grandkids sound pretty fun…"

Coop chuckled as well, "Yeah… Figured."

Charlie nodded.

"How about we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"Yeah, something along the lines of we either make these kinds of 'checkups' a regular thing. Like once a week, once a day, or once a month. Or we make sure to check on each other whenever we might think it could be helpful. Like a buddy-check. And basically just two codes of conduct. One, as sure as there's not like a medical reason 'why-not' I'll have to make time for you when you say you need me. And the second, you don't get to be pissed at me because I might check on you a couple more times than you feel necessary. Okay?"

"I think I like those ground rules." Charlie nodded, "But the first one might need a bit nip-and-tuck…"

"Okay?"

"Here at home, it will be impossible for you to just BE THERE all the time. I say we kinda keep it as it is, but we add that I'm not allowed to do anything 'stupid' before I get a hold of you."

"Nice add-on." Coop nodded, "That way I won't worry so much I'll get an ulcer if I see two missed calls from you."

Charlie chuckled, "Didn't know you could worry…"

"Oh, I know how to worry…" Coop chuckled, "From the time I learned what you did when you were away, and until I joined up myself, I constantly worried about my big brother."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be…" Coop shook his head, "It's one of the ways I leaned how much you mean to me."

Charlie smiled a bit, before he cleared his voice, "I don't know about you, but I feel like I've done the emotional equivalent of running a marathon with no prior training…" he let out a short laugh, "how about we take a breather? Go outside, take a trip on our bikes, skate, work out, I don't know…?"

Coop nodded, "Yeah, as long as we're good on the future code of conduct…"

"All good." Charlie nodded, "And… That stuff goes both ways, in case my spider senses ever pick up that your top floor might be a bit too dark."

"Sure, of course." Coop nodded.

**Okay, that was the first one of them. Hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Happy Birthday

**Here comes another chapter.**

_March 8th, 2008_

Jack watched with his heart in his throat as Charlie stumbled backwards after some guy had dropped down from the rafters and landed two heels square in his chest.

Charlie staggered backwards all the way until there was no more floor behind him and he crashed through the hole that reminded Jack about a hay trap.

Jack heard the Californian impact with the floor below. Then he heard a groan and a few barked cusswords. Jack didn't really have time to check on his teammate before he had incapacitated the guy who had sent Charlie flying. -Or crashing.

DELTADELTADELTA

Charlie forced himself to return to being quiet, not that it was strictly necessary, everyone who could know he was down there knew it already. He attempted pulling his right leg towards him, but ended up choking a cry when the next wave of pain hit.

He leaned forward and started untying his right shoe. He already knew he wouldn't be able to put proper weight on that ankle for the rest of the mission, but he needed a visual on it.

He heard fighting upstairs, but he couldn't do anything about it. Not unless the bad guys stepped into the view he had through the hatch above him.

He wasn't able to get his shoe off with his leg straight in front of him. He understood that he would have to pull his leg closer. At least this time he was prepared, he knew how bad it could feel.

He hooked a hand under his knee and gently leaned backwards again.

His knee felt like it could be a bit swollen, but it wasn't painful. His ankle on the other hand, that was almost blindingly so.

He laid on his back and rested his calf on top of his opposite knee. He was able to reach his boot, but the position emphasized to him that his leg had to be broken. It didn't feel completely stable.

He was able to run a couple of fingers inside his boot, to grip and steady his ankle a bit before he attempted to slide the boot off. There was already a massive bump a little above and a little in front of the outside of his ankle.

"Bet that's something that'll have to be set properly later…" he groaned silently to himself, before he started sliding the footwear off.

The sensation was not for the faint of heart.

DELTADELTADELTA

Jack managed to shoulder his weapon and double-tap the guy who had sent Charlie flying.

Then he heard something to his left and spun around. As soon as he was sure that it wasn't a hostage who had gotten loose, he pulled the trigger a couple of more times. Two in the chest, one in the head.

He stepped over to the hatch and looked down, "How are ya?"

The sight pretty much spoke for itself. Charlie was laid down on his back, he had both hands wrapped around his right ankle.

"Sprained?"

Charlie shrugged, "Probably broken…"

"Crap…" Jack frowned, "And today of all days. Try to relax down there… I'll finish this up…"

"Thanks."

Jack nodded and returned his focus to the task at hand. He guessed 'door number two' would be where the hostages would be, so he set off to check it.

He didn't bother taking all the precautions he normally would've. Charlie was in pain, and he didn't want him to have to wait like that for longer than was necessary.

He swung the door open, saw Boxer and Pete sitting tied up, then an indicator light above him turned green and a monotone tone buzzed.

"Looks like you guys made it…" Box nodded, "Care to tie us loose?"

The two 'bad guys' got back up, the one who had kicked Charlie headed over to the hole in the ground. The other attempted wiping paintball-paint off his goggles before he gave up and flipped them up.

DELTADELTADELTA

"Hey, I'm sorry." The guy who had kicked him grimaced, "I didn't… -Are you okay?"

Charlie grimaced a little, "Messed up my ankle. Think it's broken."

"Shit man, I really didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it…" Charlie offered up the best smile he could fabricate, "If you don't train like it's real…"

The guy up top shrugged, "Need any help down there?"

"Yeah." Charlie nodded, "I'm gonna need help to get pretty much anywhere. Can you see if there's something crutch-like laying around?"

"Copy that." The guy above nodded, "Want me to bring an instant icepack too?"

"Please."

"Deal." Then the guy stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed a number out of memory and waited about one ring, "Yeah, we're gonna have to take a break over here. We had a slight training accident."

There was a pause as the one on the other end of the phone talked.

"Possible leg fracture."

Another pause.

"He requested a pair of crutches and an icepack, I haven't had time to crawl down to the floor he's on yet." Slight pause. "It's Charlie."

DELTADELTADELTA

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked as he finally had time to come back over to Charlie.

"You know…" Charlie shrugged, visibly strained, "Just chillin'…"

Jack chuckled as he lowered himself through the hatch. He still had a decent drop left when he had lowered himself as low as he reached.

"Hell of a height to just drop down…" Jack commented as he looked back up at the hatch as he stepped over to Charlie.

"Yeah, I noticed."

"You okay with letting me take a look?"

Charlie sighed then nodded and gently removed his hands. He didn't fully let go though, he kept supporting the foot from below.

"Oh, that's…"

"-Swollen?"

"Yeah." Jack nodded, "We should splint it."

Charlie nodded.

"-You know I'm gonna have to touch it…?"

Charlie nodded again, "I've got a strong pulse both on top of my foot and behind the inside of my ankle…. In case that's your next concern…"

Jack chuckled, "Yeah, that was pretty much the next thing I was gonna check. You gonna let me gently check while you're holding your foot, or is that going to be a problem?"

"Nah, go ahead."

Jack did, and confirmed what Charlie had claimed.

Jack crawled on his knees over to Charlie's upper body. "Did you hurt anything else. How's your chest? Looked like he impacted with more force than he had planned."

"Not to my knowledge." Charlie winced as he resumed his previous position with his hands protectively wrapped around the bum ankle. "My chest is fine. Might get a small superficial bruise, but that'll be all."

"I'm just going to pat you down anyway…" Jack informed as he began from the top down. Charlie's skin wasn't cold or clammy, a little sweaty maybe but that was to be expected with the temperature around them and the activity they had endured the last couple of hours. When he came down to Charlie's chest, he pressed his thumb firmly down on it.

"What's my capillary refill like?"

"Good." Jack chuckled, "You'll let me know if I hit any sore spots, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"Just… Stop before you get to my ankle, okay?"

"Sure." After finishing his little patting round without finding any signs of further injury he crawled back up to Charlie's head again, "You're going to make fun of me for this, but… Just humor me, okay?"

Charlie chuckled as Jack pulled up a small flashlight. "PEARL?"

Jack checked, then nodded "Pupils Equal And Reactive to Light."

"Told you I didn't hurt anything else…"

"Just want to make sure." Jack winked, "How are you feeling?"

"My ankle hurts," Charlie stated, "Other than that, I feel mostly fine."

"Mostly?"

"My knee was a little weird moving, not painful, just weird." Charlie justified, "And this concrete floor is cold as heck."

Jack unconsciously laid his hand against the floor to check. It was pretty cold. Laying on it would not be a pleasant experience. He looked up and saw the solution.

He stood up and stepped over to a couple of empty carboard boxes. He collapsed them and brought them over to where Charlie was laying.

"You able to sit up a bit?" he asked, "I guess you're not up for moving around before you have to, and definitely not before you have more than one guy to help ya…"

Charlie nodded and sat up cautiously, letting Jack place the carboard boxes where his back had been a short moment earlier.

"Hey, you know where the stairs are?" Charlie asked as he laid back down.

"I'll look for them." Jack shrugged, then pointed upward, "Why do you think I took the shortcut?"

Charlie shrugged, "Getting down here faster?"

"Nah, I didn't know where the stairs were."

Charlie smirked a little.

DELTADELTADELTA

Jeremy found a pair of crutches, an icepack and an ace wrap before he went down into the cellar. "How are you holding up?"

"Good," Charlie shrugged and released his ankle with one of his hands holding it out ready to catch, "Did you find an icepack?"

Jeremy nodded and tossed it over to Charlie.

"Thank you." Charlie smiled and popped the activator package inside it, then he shook it to make the water inside the activator package spread over the dry things inside in order for the chemical reaction to start and cool the pack down. Then he let it rest on his chest as he untied the bandana he had worn as a biker scarf and shook it out. Draped the worn and faded bandana over his ankle in a double layer and picked up the ice pack again. As he gently rolled the cold pack onto his injured ankle he let out a sigh which were a mix between a groan, moan and a gasp, but it still held some sort of satisfaction.

Then Jeremy pulled the ace wrap out of his pocket, "Want me to secure it for you?"

Charlie nodded.

DELTADELTADELTA

"Dude, WTF happened?" Coop frowned as soon as his brain decoded what he saw, "Did you actually break your leg during training?"

Charlie removed his arm from where it blocked out the light over his eyes. Then he rolled his eyes at his brother, "Nah, I broke it laying right here in my bunk."

"For real?"

"No! I broke it falling down like ten feet through a hatch." Charlie sighed, "Took a messed up landing."

"How bad is it?"

"Broke both bones right above the ankle." Charlie sighed, "No surgery needed, but the doctor wanted me to keep that leg up and not move around too much the next week or two."

"-Until it has fused a bit?"

Charlie nodded.

Coop nodded as well.

"How was your day?"

"Minus the broken leg, I would gladly have swapped with you." Coop sighed.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how stupid FNGs can be?"

Charlie chuckled.

"I swear, I wanted to put my head in a vise and keep on tightening it until I had proper brain damage."

Charlie chuckled, "That bad?"

Coop nodded, "I think half of them barely meet the IQ limit for being a functional human being. -And the rest of them had probably left their brain at home."

Then Dunc walked into the tent as well. He was halfway across the room before he noticed something was off, and stopped. "Cast?"

"Yeah."

"Sucks." Dunc frowned, "Happened in training?"

"Yeah." Charlie nodded again.

"What's the damage?"

"Fractured. Both bones, a bit above the ankle."

"Open, closed? Surgery, no?"

"Closed, no surgery." Charlie replied.

"So, it either was really stable, or you have to take it extra easy a couple of weeks?"

"I was advised to keep my leg up and not move around too much…" Charlie sighed.

"Happy f*cking birthday I guess…" Coop shrugged.

Charlie nodded, "Exactly."

"Shit, it's your birthday today?" Dunc asked.

Charlie nodded again.

"Talk about a shitty way to spend your day…"

"Hey, could always be worse…" Charlie smirked and looked up at his younger brother, "I'm alive, and almost kicking… Right?"

Coop smirked a bit.

"Hey, to make up for a sucky birthday, what if we" Dunc gestured to himself and Coop, "go raid the base for treats? Or flirt with a couple of the girls in the mess tent, maybe we could end up with something like a tasty treat for you…"

Charlie chuckled, "You guys are really cool friends to have."

** Okay, hope you enjoyed that one. **


	3. Pushups

**New chapter**

"Bet you can't do it…" Charlie smirked, knowing he was driving his brother crazy. Neither of them really knew how to back down from challenges.

"Shut up." Coop gnarled back.

"See, you can't do it."

"Buddy, I'm going to pick you up and throw you into a wall."

"Hah… Good luck on that…" Box chuckled, "Charlie's gotta weigh 250, easy."

"Somewhere between 245 and 260…" Charlie shrugged. He had no problems with being a big guy, most of it was muscles anyway.

"Which makes what you're attempting, pretty impossible."

Coop shook his head and focused his breathing, then he gave it all he had.

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Hell, he's actually doing it!" Box's jaw dropped a little, and the Texan looked baffled for once.

Coop locked out his arms and did a controlled decent again, with Charlie sitting with his legs crossed under him on top of his shoulders, before repeating his feat of strength four more times. -Just to show off, of course.

"Kid, it's more than enough now." Charlie grimaced, "The bet was ONCE…"

Coop stayed down after the fifth pushup, breathing hard. "Told you I could do it."

Box clapped his hands together, "I'm impressed, kid."

Charlie nodded, "I'm impressed too."

"Thanks."

Then Box turned to Charlie, "Hey, bet you that you can't to the same thing reversed…"

Charlie rolled his eyes and rolled off Coop's back and into a ready pushup position. "Get on…"

"Gimme a minute to get my breath back." Coop grimaced, "And couldn't you have stepped off my back straight away."

"Nope." Charlie grinned.

"Well, I'm getting my revenge soon enough." Coop chuckled and pushed himself up quickly and stepped over to sit down on his older brother's back. "Good luck."

**Okay, that was a short one, but I thought it was pretty fun. Hope you did too.**


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